As part of the
Patrick-Murray Administration’s Massachusetts Recovery Plan, Governor Deval
Patrick joined Congressman John Olver and local elected officials in Leominster,
Mass., to announce the groundbreaking of the first rail improvement project in
Massachusetts supported by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Metrolinx purchased from CN
the lower portion of the Newmarket Subdivision in central-north Toronto for
C$68 million. The transaction gives Metrolinx end-to-end ownership of the
60-mile-long Barrie-Bradford GO Train corridor between downtown Toronto and
Barrie, Ont. – a first for the government transit agency.
Stella-Jones Inc. has
signed a non-binding letter of intent to acquire Tangent Rail Corporation, a
provider of wood crosstie supply chain services to the railroad industry. This
acquisition will expand Stella-Jones’ capabilities within the U.S. railway tie
industry and provide the company with creosote manufacturing operations.
Tangent’s sales for the year ended December 31, 2009 are expected to reach
approximately US$175 million.
At the board meeting on
December 10, 2009, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board of
Directors authorized $5.8 million for the construction of Caltrain safety
improvements. These improvements include modifications to railroad crossing
gates, installation of guardrails, fencing, pedestrian gates, emergency swing gates,
sidewalk, crossing panels and tactile warning panels as well as grading
modifications to crossings within the Joint Powers Board owned segment (between
Sunnyvale and Palo Alto).
The final waiting period
has begun for the Final Environmental Impact Statement paperwork required for
the Detroit Intermodal Freight Terminal in Detroit, Crain’s Detroit Business
reports. The terminal project, between Wyoming and Livernois avenues south of
I-94, has a $445-million price tag in 2006 dollars (for the preferred
alternative) and is designed to consolidate train and trucking infrastructure.
The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail
Transit district in California has received $2.5 million in federal funds for
preliminary engineering and environmental work on its planned commuter rail
line, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports. The funds were in the Fiscal Year
2010 Omnibus bill, which the Senate passed on Dec. 13, according to
Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif.
The struggling Bay Area economy just received a big boost thanks to the BART Board, whose vote also means BART customers will finally have a swift, world-class train-to-plane connection between the Coliseum BART Station and the Oakland Airport. After two decades of planning and debate, the Board of Directors voted seven to one to award California-based Flatiron/Parsons Joint Venture the contract to design and build the 3.2-mile automated people mover. The Board also voted seven to one to award Doppelmayr Cable Car, Inc., the contract to operate and maintain the connector once built.
High-speed rail is a glamorous idea — it’s fun to imagine a train streaking through the cornfields from Chicago to St. Louis in four hours. Less glamorous are some of the fixes that need to be made to Chicago’s notoriously slow freight rail system. Talk about projects like "signalize interlocking" and "grade separation," and eyes glaze over, The Chicago Sun Times reports.
After a closed session personnel discussion amongst the Board of Directors, the Chairman of the Board of the Southern California Regional Rail Authority Keith Millhouse announced that Metrolink CEO David Solow would change his role at the agency effective December 15, 2009. The Board of Directors and Solow have agreed that he will step down as CEO and for the balance of this fiscal year, until June 30, 2010, he will remain with the agency devoting full time to the interagency collaborations necessary for Metrolink to implement safety enhancements, including Positive Train Control, and interoperability agreements.
Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said that the final Omnibus Appropriations Act that includes $126,432,544 in funding for several Illinois projects was approved by a joint House and Senate Conference Committee of which Durbin is a member. The House and Senate are expected to take up and pass the legislation before the end of the year. The bill will then go to the President for his signature.
An improvement in mid-Missouri has greatly improved Amtrak service across the state. Now, the Department of Transportation wants to go farther and faster with passenger rail service, local media report. A new 9,000-foot rail siding at California, Mo., allows Union Pacific freight trains to get out of the way of Amtrak traveling between Kansas City and Jefferson City.
The first quiet zone for Lincoln, Neb. — a six-mile stretch of railway where trains no longer have to blow horns before crossings — isn’t as quiet as it should be, some Lincolnites say, according to the Lincoln Journal Star. Trains along Cornhusker Highway were much quieter after the zone went into effect Sept. 18, but people have since told the city they’ve gotten noisy again.
The Grosvenor-Strathmore Metrorail station in the Washington, D.C., area will be closed from 10 p.m., Friday, Jan. 15, to closing, Monday, Jan. 18, while Metro undertakes a major track rehabilitation project on the Red Line between the White Flint and Medical Center Metrorail stations throughout the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday weekend. Normal service will resume on Tuesday, Jan. 19, at 5 a.m.
Work on Caltrain’s Grade Crossing Improvement Program, which will enhance safety at 25 grade crossings in San Mateo County, will continue the week of Dec. 14. Throughout the project area, at least one lane of the impacted street will remain open. Flagmen will direct traffic and pedestrians around the construction.
Thirty-nine freight rail companies and users can make upgrades and expand capacity with a $24.5-million state investment from PennDOT’s Rail Freight Capital Budget/Transportation Assistance and Rail Freight Assistance Programs, Governor Edward G. Rendell said.
The American Society of Civil Engineers named the five finalists for the 2010 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement. Established in 1960, the OCEA program recognizes projects for their contribution to the well-being of people and communities, their resourcefulness in planning and design challenges, and their innovative use of materials and techniques.
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors approved light rail transit as the Locally Preferred Alternative for the Crenshaw/LAX Transit Corridor transportation project. Also, the Board, in approving the Harbor Subdivision Transit Corridor Alternative Analysis Study, ordered further study in a Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Report of an extension of Metro Green Line rail service to the proposed Torrance Regional Transit Center in the South Bay area of the region. The light rail alternative will be 8.5 miles from the Metro Green Line Aviation Station to the Expo Line, now under construction, at Crenshaw and Exposition boulevards, with a travel time estimated at 20 minutes. There will be seven new stations plus an option for one more. The final Environment Impact Study/Environment Impact Report could be ready by the end of 2010, with the line scheduled to open in 2018.
(This editorial appeared Dec. 11 in the Miami Herald)
Leadership won the day in Tallahassee with the Dec. 8 passage of the rail-funding bill. That leadership will keep Florida in the running for $2.5 billion in federal stimulus money for a high-speed rail project and create new jobs.
A new station on the Hiawatha light-rail line in he Twin Cities is scheduled to open Dec. 12. Located on 34th Avenue just south of I-494/Hwy 5, American Boulevard Station will serve as the transportation anchor for a future transit-oriented development initiative in the City of Bloomington’s Airport South District.
Morris County, N.J., is set to seek bids, and plans to reactivate the long-dormant railroad tracks behind Horseshoe Lake in Succasunna are moving ahead full steam, local media report. In a statement issued on Dec. 1 by the county freeholders, Freeholder Director Gene Feyl said that the Federal Highway Administration has issued its authorization for the Chester Branch Rehabilitation project. The move, according to Feyl, will allow Morris County to seek bids to improve the four-mile active freight line, which passes through Roxbury.
